[Poiseuille]

So, it's 9 AM here in Toronto, sitting in the Hotel X having breakfast, looking out across the street to the track. It's 18 years on and I find that I still miss this guy. Such a shame.....

[macdude357]

Yes, it was a tragic day. My wife and I were there at AutoClub Speedway for that race. We were both Greg Moore fans and were truly saddened when it happened.

[forza1976]

He was awesome!

[EYC.M3]

He was an awesome driver !!

[ToddinTN]

Red gloves rule!

[Alfisti]

Remember it like yesterday.

I am Australian and Indycar was on at around 1am and i'd stay up to watch it. I am always an optimist with race car crashes, i figure they guy will be ok 99% time.

But this one, this crash, i knew right away either Moore or Capentier was dead, it was an absolute plane crash.

I will never forget the commentators, who did an excellent job that day, say "we're going to hold on the name of the driver until we have confirmation" ..... then they saw Carpentier circulating so knew it was Moore.

I always imagine those two families watching that race, not knowing if their son was dead, that cold fear, in a split second it was a 50/50 chance your boy was gone, and the Moore's showed tails.

[Poiseuille]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Remember it like yesterday.

I am Australian and Indycar was on at around 1am and i'd stay up to watch it. I am always an optimist with race car crashes, i figure they guy will be ok 99% time.

But this one, this crash, i knew right away either Moore or Capentier was dead, it was an absolute plane crash.

I will never forget the commentators, who did an excellent job that day, say "we're going to hold on the name of the driver until we have confirmation" ..... then they saw Carpentier circulating so knew it was Moore.

I always imagine those two families watching that race, not knowing if their son was dead, that cold fear, in a split second it was a 50/50 chance your boy was gone, and the Moore's showed tails.

A few years later having breakfast in one of the hotels near Pocono, it's a NASCAR race near the end of Patrick's professional career. Patrick is trying to get a bagel toaster to work with little success. So as I watch my wife walks up behind him and starts this animated conversation about the rubbish bagel toasters, Patrick chimes right in complete with Gallic hand and arm gestures. This goes on for about 10 minutes until Patrick goes back to the table where his wife and kid are and my wife comes over to where my son and I are. Patrick is a prince in my book. Poiseuille Jr says " hey mom, do you know who that is?" Of course she doesn't. So I go into the whole story about Patrick and Greg and Forsyth and CART and Lolas and how Tony George was a complete villain. Got quite long winded I did, and a little misty for those days. Still do, looks like.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by Poiseuille

A few years later having breakfast in one of the hotels near Pocono, it's a NASCAR race near the end of Patrick's professional career. Patrick is trying to get a bagel toaster to work with little success. So as I watch my wife walks up behind him and starts this animated conversation about the rubbish bagel toasters, Patrick chimes right in complete with Gallic hand and arm gestures. This goes on for about 10 minutes until Patrick goes back to the table where his wife and kid are and my wife comes over to where my son and I are. Patrick is a prince in my book. Poiseuille Jr says " hey mom, do you know who that is?" Of course she doesn't. So I go into the whole story about Patrick and Greg and Forsyth and CART and Lolas and how Tony George was a complete villain. Got quite long winded I did, and a little misty for those days. Still do, looks like.

I miss those days too. With the split in the series, things have never been the same. Yes, there have been some good drivers come up through the IRL, but the feel has never been the same. The guys like the one we're honoring here, Greg Moore, just are not present in the IRL now. It could just be me though.

I regret I never had a chance to attend a race in person where Greg was racing. I did manage to attend a couple of races with some great CART drivers. Gil de Ferran is just a class act. At the Mid Ohio race, CART had set up a time slot where fans could meet the drivers and get autographs. At the end of the scheduled slot, people were being turned away from the various lines for other drivers. Gil on the other hand told the organizers (I was near him to hear him say this) to continue to let people cycle through as he'll talk and autograph every fan that wants to come through the line. That is a class act.

I also had another situation where I was walking through the pit area and stopped between two trailers along with a couple of other strangers. We both were staring at who we saw sitting on a bench talking to each other. The drivers were Kenny Brack and Max Papis. We looked at each other and debated whether to walk up to them. One of the guys decided to approach them and asked if they would be so kind to autograph some stuff. They both said sure without any attitude. Really nice guys.

[Poiseuille]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

I miss those days too. With the split in the series, things have never been the same. Yes, there have been some good drivers come up through the IRL, but the feel has never been the same. The guys like the one we're honoring here, Greg Moore, just are not present in the IRL now. It could just be me though.

I regret I never had a chance to attend a race in person where Greg was racing. I did manage to attend a couple of races with some great CART drivers. Gil de Ferran is just a class act. At the Mid Ohio race, CART had set up a time slot where fans could meet the drivers and get autographs. At the end of the scheduled slot, people were being turned away from the various lines for other drivers. Gil on the other hand told the organizers (I was near him to hear him say this) to continue to let people cycle through as he'll talk and autograph every fan that wants to come through the line. That is a class act.

I also had another situation where I was walking through the pit area and stopped between two trailers along with a couple of other strangers. We both were staring at who we saw sitting on a bench talking to each other. The drivers were Kenny Brack and Max Papis. We looked at each other and debated whether to walk up to them. One of the guys decided to approach them and asked if they would be so kind to autograph some stuff. They both said sure without any attitude. Really nice guys.

I know what you mean, i feel extraordinarily privileged to have the memories that I do. we raced Atlantics in those days, Players Series throughout the US and Canada, we were sometimes the undercard for CART, saw all those teams month after month. my brother and i often say that at the time 'we had no idea how much fun we were having'.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by Poiseuille

I know what you mean, i feel extraordinarily privileged to have the memories that I do. we raced Atlantics in those days, Players Series throughout the US and Canada, we were sometimes the undercard for CART, saw all those teams month after month. my brother and i often say that at the time 'we had no idea how much fun we were having'.

So jealous.

[M2joey]

Was awesome! Remember watching Gregg and Michael Andretti battling at Nazareth, PA 1996, my first full IndyCar race weekend. Gregg came in second behind Michael. Remember where I was like it was yesterday his last race.

[Poiseuille]

Originally Posted by isjoey

Was awesome! Remember watching Gregg and Michael Andretti battling at Nazareth, PA 1996, my first full IndyCar race weekend. Gregg came in second behind Michael. Remember where I was like it was yesterday his last race.

i'm not much of an oval fan but i loved Nazareth, it was really a road course with no right turns and they used the giant road race aero bits and man was that place fast. went to many races there (only an hour away) and i was there that week end. also saw Mansel hold a clinic there. the best I ever saw there was JPM: the Silver Bullets raced that weekend and slathered their gigantic Hoosiers all over the track. i believe that JPM may have been the best ever anywhere on cold tires and with the added Hoosier grease factor Juan was like a magician, led flag to flag. on restarts he pulled a 1/2 lap on the field in less than 2 laps, and did that repeatedly. watched JPM's on-board videos next day on VCR and was stunned at how his hands moved. then Juan went to F1 and Nazareth was closed down. i always suspected that Bill France had something to do with killing Nazareth because the Lolas made his box-cars look stupid.

Edit: took this couple hours ago in Toronto:

[E92 M Sport]

I remember watching it live. A real downer as it always is. On a happier note, how do the new cars look in person? I never cared for the last gen. These at least in photos look a bit retro which I like.